Initiative War Machine Review

By Loran

For reasons I can’t explain, I just… love War Machine. He’s one of the few, if only, cases I can think of where a sidekick has a cooler uniform than the main hero. Heck, if anything, Iron Man should be HIS sidekick! War Machine is Iron Man plus guns with a slavish black and silver or black and white color scheme. This is just way too cool to me! I’m sorry, I have a weird obsession with War Machine. I’ll stop now.

In the six inch Iron Man: The Armored Avenger toyline, Hasbro experimented with new comic series designs and a bunch of (pretty heinous) repaints of the Iron Man 2 figures. On the comic side of things, Hasbro gave us some great-looking figures like Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and what we have here: Initiative War Machine.

I wasn’t sold on this design originally. I tend to prefer War Machine in black and silver, but I picked this figure up on impulse because hey, when WILL we get another six inch War Machine. I figured he would be a good counterpart for the new Marvel Legends Iron Man, because I think if you need one, you gotta have the other.

When comparing him height-wise to the new Marvel Legends Iron Man, he actually comes up a little short. I think this is mostly due to the Iron Man figure’s height, not War Machine’s.

Like many other War Machine figures, one of his shoulder guns is spring-loaded. It’s… an interesting design, to say the least. The launcher extends after the missile is fired, making it go from huge to comically huge. I really wish Hasbro would make the missile launchers on War Machine swappable instead of making the missile one the default configuration.

Both launchers are mounted on hinges like the four inch figures. It manages to not hurt much of the design, although his chest feels a little long and he kind of leans backwards. That could be a design choice, however. What I DO have a problem with are these stupid cables attaching to the guns and limbs. I hate these. They always pop out and just look so intrusive. I just took them off.

The paint applications are pretty lackluster as well. The while is so sloppily applied it feels more like he’s a Toybiz-era legend than a Hasbro one. I do like the spray apps on his arms and gun, however.

His articulation is thankfully standard for a figure of this type, using the old-style hip joints. Again, those weird circle things get in the way but can be moved. Unfortunately his head doesn’t have a hinge joint in it so he can’t properly look up, but it’s not as bad as the first Iron Man movie figures.

He manages to avoid having intrusive shoulders, as well. The metal bolts in the shoulders actually look pretty cool, in my opinion, and add to the overall appearance.

I like this rendition of War Machine. He isn’t perfect, but he’s definitely worth getting, especially if you have the new Extremis Armor Iron Man. I’d recommend getting him from FPNYC if you plan on doing just that!